Break the Ice
by Gabrielle MB
Summary: So what to do when you've defeated the sorceress and your former enemy storms into your office babbling something? You think. And then you act. Shounen ai, SeiferSquall


Break the Ice  
  
Author: Gabrielle MoonBeam  
  
Fandom: Final Fantasy 8. Not mine, Squaresoft's.  
  
Archives: FF.net, my page. If you want it, ask.   
  
Warnings: Spoilers for the end of the game, OOC Squall, Seifer/Squall, mentions of Zell/Irvine and Selphie/Quistis. Shounen ai and fluff.  
  
Notes: My second, not-so-good FF8 fic. I still haven't played the game through. *shame, shame*   
  
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Squall leaned back in his plush chair, sighing desolately to himself. It had been a few months since the defeat of Ultimecia, and he already had a huge stack of paperwork to sort through.   
  
Squall had been named the Head Commander of the SeeDs, given a lush office with a big, wonderful table and a secretary. And all the work the Garden could squeeze out, landed almost always on his desk.   
  
The sulking brunet pushed away from the table, making a sullen face at the stacks of paper littering the polished mahogany surface.   
  
Squall got up from the chair, making his way slowly to the wide, glinting windows of his office, overlooking the Garden's busy yard. He lifted one gloved hand, resting it against the smooth surface.   
  
How he longed to be out there, enjoying the sun like every other student. How he wanted to breathe in the clean, crisp air of autumn, not sit around in his stuffy office, reading through some papers hardly worth his attention.   
  
Squall's eyes caught a familiar figure bouncing across the yard, making his way towards the front gates. Zell's hair was sticking up as always, the small punk's clothes as odd as always.   
  
A small, barely noticeable smile flitted over Squall's lips, lightening up the sombre face. Zell was sleeping with Irvine, and the couple seemed to be very happy.   
  
The smile fell as Squall remembered his own affair with the Heartilly girl. It was not as though Squall hated her, it was just that she got very annoying very soon, and she was too clingy for Squall's taste. And the fact that she constantly tried to drag Squall out of his shell made things worse.   
  
Squall wasn't unhappy with Rinoa, it was just that everything seemed so dull, so meaningless with her. Like the many dances and parties Rinoa had dragged him to.   
  
Squall's thoughts took another turn as he watched Seifer stride towards the main building. The big Ex-bully and Ex-Sorceress' Knight saluted Zell, smiling faintly. The smaller martial artist grinned back, waving.   
  
Seifer had had to almost beg on his knees to be admitted back to the Garden, and still not that many people accepted him. He had been brainwashed, that much was obvious, and he had changed. Seifer was somehow more mature, more capable of taking orders from people.   
  
Squall felt a little pang in his cold, icy chest as he saw the hatred shining from the people Seifer walked by, his head held high.   
  
Squall hadn't talked to the taller man since the defeat of Ultimecia, if you didn't count the greetings the exchanged in the winding hallways of the Garden. Squall's brown furrowed, his scar crinkling.   
  
The intercom on Squall's desk beeped, his secretary's monotonous voice seeping from it.   
  
"There's a Seifer Almasy here to meet you. Are you available?"  
  
Squall's eyes widened minutely as he strode back his desk, leaning down to push one of the intercom's buttons.   
  
"Yes. Let him in."  
  
The doors to Squall's office hissed open, revealing the muscular, tall form of his Ex-rival. Seifer walked in, stopping in front of Squall's desk.  
  
Squall thought he could see a sadness in Seifer's aqua eyes, but dismissed it as a trick of light.  
  
"You wanted to see me. State your business." Squall's voice was cold, while his mind was burning with some emotion he couldn't decipher.   
  
"I wanted to say I'm sorry. I have already apologised to everyone else."  
  
Squall's eyes narrowed, taking in Seifer's slumped form, his tired, sorrowful eyes. Something wasn't right with the tall, arrogant man.   
  
Seifer's voice never once quivered.  
  
"I'm sorry for all the horrible things I did. 'm sorry for the prison, 'm sorry 'bout the torture, and I'm sorry about tryin' to crash the Garden."  
  
Squall's grey-blue eyes studied the man in front of him coolly.   
  
"I'm sorry 'bout the scar, I'm sorry about Rinoa, m' sorry about all the things I did to you when we were younger."  
  
Seifer's eyes glimmered with something close to humiliation.   
  
"And m'sorry about the most horrible thing I've ever done."   
  
Squall's head tilted, his eyes still glossy with the ice in them. His stance spoke of disinterest even as he wanted so desperately to know what Seifer had done that was so horrible the proud man actually looked so flustered.   
  
Squall's insides were in a knot, and he frowned, not knowing why it hurt to hear the sorrow in Seifer's words.  
  
"'m sorry I... No. I won't say it, but Squall", Seifer leaned in closer to the brunet that was still standing behind his desk, "I hope you're happy."   
  
Seifer's voice turned urgent, the words pouring out of his mouth in a rapid current.  
  
"I hope you've finally found somethin' to melt the ice in you, I hope you can find happiness in Rinoa, in love. I just hope you'll forgive me and that you'll be happy in this world. Happy in way I can't be. I... I love you Squall, always have, but I'm not your happiness, I can't ever be."  
  
The taller man leaned back, taking steps backwards, his shoulders meeting the wall next to the door. He had a cornered look in his eyes.  
  
"Goodbye Squall. I hope yer happy. I really do. But I can't be."   
  
And Seifer left, the hissing doors shutting after his tall frame, his long legs carrying him away from Squall, away from everything in the large office and the icicle there.   
  
All Squall could do was blink, blink like never before, his muddled mind screaming something at him.   
  
Squall couldn't hear what it was, so he settled down in his chair and picked up the topmost paper in the big pile in front of him.   
  
After a half an hour, Squall's finger's dropped the pen he was holding, Seifer's words striking home.   
  
"I love you Squall, always have."  
  
Squall was out of his chair in a heartbeat, running through the corridors of Balamb Garden.   
  
----------------  
  
"So you're taking the easy way out."  
  
The icy voice drifted in the wind, caressed Seifer's ears like a winter breeze.  
  
"Nah, Leonhart, 'm not takin' the easy way. I've already said m' sorry, an' I have nothin' more to say to you or anybody else."  
  
"You're a coward Seifer, always a coward."  
  
An angry glint in the defeated eyes, the tall frame of Seifer turned around from the edge of the Garden's roof.  
  
"'m not a coward. I just don' have anythin' to live for anymore. You've got Rinoa, Chicken-wuss' got his sharpshooter, an' the hyperactive monster's got 'er whip-wielder. Me? 've got nothin'. An' 's alright with me."  
  
"You've got all of us, Seifer. You've got the Orphanage gang."  
  
A snort, the fleeting crinkling of aqua eyes.   
  
"Tha's got ta be the thickest crap I've ever heard, Leonhart. I've never had anyone."   
  
"You've got me."  
  
An angry growl.  
  
"What the fuck are ya talkin' about, Squall? Why the fuck do you give a damn? Wha's with this uncharacteristic support and lovey-dovey talk?"  
  
A shrug.  
  
"I dunno, Seifer. It's what I feel."  
  
"Don't mock me, Leonhart."  
  
"I'm not."  
  
Seifer turned his back to Squall once more, tilting his head like lost puppy as he gazed down at the pavement a good twenty feet below. A dry chuckle escaped his throat as he mulled over Squall's words.  
  
"Don't jump, Seifer."  
  
A silence filled with the chattering and laughter of the students walking in the Garden gossiping, talking, telling jokes.   
  
Seifer felt so weary, so thin and tired. He couldn't go around laughing, he couldn't have fun, he couldn't ever again look at anyone and think he was superior to them.   
  
Seifer had nothing.   
  
"Please."  
  
The silent plea somehow got to Seifer's ears, even if it was so quiet the birds' chirping alone should have drowned it out.   
  
A deep breath.  
  
"No, Squall. You'll jus' leave me at some point. 's better this way."  
  
"No, Seifer, it's not. Come on."   
  
A snarl.  
  
"How 're you gonna stop me from jumpin' Squall?"  
  
"I'm not."  
  
A silence.  
  
"But I'll catch you."  
  
A true smile curved the corners of Seifer's mouth.   
  
"I still think yer outta yer character, Squall."  
  
"Yeah, I know. It won't last forever, so now's your chance."  
  
Squall lifted his hand, holding it out to Seifer's turned back. The tall blond craned his neck, risking a glance at Squall from behind half-lowered eyelids.   
  
"Come on, Seifer. Live a little."  
  
And Squall smiled, a dazzling thing that made Seifer's stomach do flip-flops and made him smile too.  
  
"Yer not gonna be on top, though."  
  
"....Whatever."  
  
Seifer laughed. 


End file.
